The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office now is looking into the connection between Lindsey Baum, a missing child from McCleary, and three elderly brothers recently arrested on child pornography charges in Seattle.

Charles Emery, 82, Thomas Emery, 80, and Edwin Emery, 79, all of the Green Lake neighborhood in Seattle, were charged with two counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexual conduct on Aug. 21.

A family member had been cleaning the men’s home when she discovered what is believed to be material depicting the sexual abuse of minors, SeattlePI.com has reported. Charging papers noted that the home was covered “floor to ceiling with child exploitative images, children’s clothing articles, toys and movies.” Handwritten notes found at the home describe kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of girls.

A fourth brother had lived in Shelton until he died in 2016. The brothers are believed to have visited that family property in Mason County.

During an initial search of the properties, authorities found a missing person poster for Lindsey Baum, who went missing from McCleary in 2009. Baum was 10 years old when she disappeared. She had been walking home from a friend’s house alone in McCleary and was never seen again. An extensive search was launched, but no sign of Baum was found.

Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott said his office is interested in the brothers and would like to know if the brothers are connected to Baum’s disappearance.

“At this point, there is no connection. This is kind of more about common sense and due diligence,” Scott said on Aug. 24. “We don’t know that these guys have any knowledge or involvement in her disappearance, but we don’t know that they didn’t. An investigation will either exclude them from scrutiny or heighten our interest.”

For Scott, proximity is important.

“We have three brothers who it turns out have been involved in decades with predatory sexual behavior targeting children. They have a history of acquiring child porn and victimizing children,” Scott said. “We now know they grew up and frequented a family property in Shelton.”

The Seattle Police Department and Mason County Sheriff’s Office are the lead agencies in the investigation, but Scott has asked that his office be included in future searches to see if there is anything that connects the brothers to Baum’s disappearance.

“They’ve lived in that Green Lake area since 1962. The oldest brother lived at the family property outside of Shelton, but it’s my understanding — and this is all preliminary information — that the three brothers from Seattle regularly frequented the property outside of Shelton,” Scott said. “We know they were mobile going back and forth from Seattle to Shelton. It’s reasonable to think they could have been in and around McCleary.”

“If we know they were in and around McCleary during that time period or that they’re related to any of the people who share that last name who live in our county, that will be something we’ll be interested in exploring further,” he said.

Scott said no connections had been established as of Aug. 24.

Following the brothers’ arrests, authorities have scoured the associated properties in search of evidence. The home in Seattle has been described as something that would be featured on the TV show Hoarders.

One woman told police she had been abused by Charles and Edwin Emery as a child, the Seattle PI reported. Charles Emery was working as a janitor at Seattle Children’s hospital when the abuse occurred.

According to the Seattle PI, charging papers state the handwritten notes depicting rape, torture and murder of children were “manifestos” written by Charles Emery.

“Edwin and Thomas Emery referred to Charles Emery’s manifestos detailing child rape and homicide and his extensive collection of items related thereto as ‘Charles’ hobby,’” the charging papers state.

The Seattle PI also reports that charging papers state, “Both Thomas and Edwin Emery denied knowledge of child homicide, but would reply to law enforcement questions on the topic that it was ‘possible’ if everything the officers was saying was true.”

Edwin Emery admitted to being sexually attracted to children, while Thomas Emery told investigators he kept hundreds of items of child pornography because he “considered it art,” according to charging papers.

Edwin Emery had been investigated in 2013 when he took his computer into a store to be fixed. An employee reported that the computer contained child pornography, the Seattle PI reported: “Edwin Emery was interviewed by police in 2013 and admitted to sexually abusing at least two people many years before. He also is alleged to have admitted to printing child pornography. That investigation did not ultimately result in charges because most of the material found on Edwin Emery’s computer was not clearly child pornography.”

This article references the Seattle PI report “Police: Seattle Children’s janitor, brothers hoarded evidence of child abuse” by Levi Pulkkinen.